A 50-year-old rickshaw-puller allegedly raped a nine-year-old girl in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur on Wednesday, reported NDTV. Guntur Superintendent of Police Appala Naidu said a search was on and the accused Arnam Subbaiah would be arrested soon.

The incident triggered protests in the area. Residents burnt tyres, shouted slogans and blocked a highway till Thursday morning. Some of them allegedly beat up the accused’s son. The protestors set a deadline of 3 pm on Thursday for Subbaiah’s arrest.

“Along with other children, the victim boarded a rickshaw just for fun when the accused lured her and raped her,” said a police official, according to The Indian Express. Later, the girl complained of bleeding and pain in the stomach. When her parents took her to doctors, they confirmed that the girl had multiple injuries on her body and had been sexually assaulted. They also had to operate on her, reported NDTV.